Friday, 20 December 2013

BBC News just published an interesting story on Herculaneum and on the scrolls from Villa dei Papiri to be more exact.

"The British Museum's 2013 show of artefacts from the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, buried in ash during an explosive eruption of Mount Vesuvius, was a sell-out. But could even greater treasures - including lost works of classical literature - still lie underground?For centuries scholars have been hunting for the lost works of ancient Greek and Latin literature. In the Renaissance, books were found in monastic libraries. In the late 19th Century papyrus scrolls were found in the sands of Egypt. But only in Herculaneum in southern Italy has an entire library from the ancient Mediterranean been discovered in situ."...

Monday, 9 December 2013

In the last days there have been several newspapers' articles on damages caused by the weather to the sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum. These news have been used to push the Ministry of Culture - Massimo Bray - to stop procrastinating and appoint the General Director of the "Grande Progetto Pompei". The right person for the job has just been announced, he is Giovanni Nistri - former Lieutenant General of the division of the Carabinieri in charge of the rescue and safeguard of the Heritage.

The press clipping is in chronological order, I hope you do not mind the fact that it is very partial, but basically I am just listing what I has been brought to my attention.

20th November - Flooding of the offices of the Superintendency:
http://www.positanonews.it/articoli/105913/pompei_acqua_alta_negli_uffici_degli_scavi.html

2nd December - Another wall collapses in Pompeii:
http://www.ilmattino.it/NAPOLI/CRONACA/cade-muro-domus-pompei-maltempo/notizie/380869.shtml

3rd December - Salvatore Settis against the situation in Pompeii and the procrastination of the Ministry:
http://www.repubblica.it/la-repubblica-delle-idee/societa/2013/12/03/news/l_incompetenza_e_i_crolli_di_pompei-72566653/?ref=twhr&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

9th December - The appointment of the new Direttore Generale:
http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac/export/MiBAC/sito-MiBAC/Contenuti/MibacUnif/Comunicati/visualizza_asset.html_79633906.html

Saturday, 7 December 2013

Combined Field School and Field Season in
Architectural Recording for Archaeology

Field School: June 16- July 4, 2013

Post-school field season, -July 11

A three-credit course with transfer credit offered by the University of
Maryland School of Architecture. Planning and Preservation focusing upon the
ancient seaside villas of STABIAE in Castellammare di Stabia, Italy.

This is a three-week course with one week field season at the end. The
aim is to train students in a particular type of architectural recording for
archaeology which combines techniques of hand drawing, photography, digital
three-dimensional drawing and CAD
post production preparation of final drawings. The goal is train students so
that within one to two weeks they will understand the whole process and be able
to participate productively in a fully active architectural recording team on
the archaeological of the large Roman villas of Stabiae. At the conclusion of
this course a successful student should be capable of being a valuable member
of many types of architectural recording teams or assisting in the production
of “as-built” drawings for architects.

Requirements: open to undergraduates and graduates. Some preference
will be given to students who have had some experience of architecture, or have
an ability to draw, but also for those students in fields such as archaeology,
classics and art history. Knowledge of trigonometry or CAD is not necessary, although students should
be prepared to bring a personal computer equipped with a current version of
AutoCAD, which can be downloaded free for anyone with a .edu email address, and
Adobe Illustrator.

The course will be housed at the Vesuvian Institute of the Restoring
Ancient Stabiae Foundation in Castellammare (near Pompeii) and will focus on
the archaeological site of the Roman villas of Stabiae. Program will
incorporated visits and general introduction to neighboring sites of Pompeii,
Herculaneum and Oplontis.